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Upland Software expands use from SEC reporting to SOX and ERM

Transcript

Marissa Palmer, SOX and Compliance Manager: The big driver for that was our VP of Finance. Like I said, he was the one that was at TEC and said, “I want that. This is something we’re going to need.” He understood very early on, and for him it was also a very kind of natural evolution and progression. We were using you for SEC, they really loved the tool, we were going to use you for SOX, that was kind of a no-brainer for us as well, because we were putting in a SOX program, and this ERM was kind of just like the cherry on top for him.

Nobody wants to learn a new system. The ramp up on learning a new system, learning where to navigate, learning how things work, I think most people are kind of a little resistant to it. Especially when you’ve got people like our SEC folks and our finance folks who are already crunched for time. It’s a really big factor because now it is like, yeah we already know how to use it, yeah just come on, why not?

One of the things that I was impressed with was, when our ERM system in Wdesk was built, you know, you are just capturing our SOX risk and controls right now, because that’s what we have mapped out. But we know more risks are going to be identified. Maybe not SOX-related, because that’s enterprise risk management. The ability to add processes and add risks and add controls to the existing framework is so easy. It’s built so that it can take on that. There are certain risks that are inherent across all industries, all businesses, and the tool allows you to put those in to scope. Areas of risk that nobody thinks of because they are indirect, not direct, but I said those indirect things can have massive impacts on your business if you ignore them. The tool's ability to add in new stuff makes it, I guess, less painful, not as time-consuming.

Another core competency of Wdesk and all the tools that you are creating, it reduces the administrative work around these things that have lots of data and reduces time. Everyone wants a little more time. Now it kind of helps eliminate that excuse of, well it's gonna take five minutes. Don’t you have five minutes? You have five minutes to get coffee, you can take five minutes for resiliency that just might save your life or not get our company hacked or something. That was something that I really liked. The tool, not only was it flexible in its creation, but it is still flexible.

Nobody wants to learn a new system. The ramp up on learning a new system, learning where to navigate, learning how things work, I think most people are kind of a little resistant to it. Especially when you’ve got people like our SEC folks and our finance folks who are already crunched for time. It’s a really big factor because now it is like, yeah we already know how to use it, yeah just come on, why not?

One of the things that I was impressed with was, when our ERM system in Wdesk was built, you know, you are just capturing our SOX risk and controls right now, because that’s what we have mapped out. But we know more risks are going to be identified. Maybe not SOX-related, because that’s enterprise risk management. The ability to add processes and add risks and add controls to the existing framework is so easy. It’s built so that it can take on that. There are certain risks that are inherent across all industries, all businesses, and the tool allows you to put those in to scope. Areas of risk that nobody thinks of because they are indirect, not direct, but I said those indirect things can have massive impacts on your business if you ignore them. The tool's ability to add in new stuff makes it, I guess, less painful, not as time-consuming.

Another core competency of Wdesk and all the tools that you are creating, it reduces the administrative work around these things that have lots of data and reduces time. Everyone wants a little more time. Now it kind of helps eliminate that excuse of, well it's gonna take five minutes. Don’t you have five minutes? You have five minutes to get coffee, you can take five minutes for resiliency that just might save your life or not get our company hacked or something. That was something that I really liked. The tool, not only was it flexible in its creation, but it is still flexible.